Spanish Fork fire damages house

SPANISH FORK — An electrical fire that ripped through a Spanish Fork house on Monday killed two dogs and caused some $25,000 in damage.

The blaze started in a detached storage shed at a house near 200 North and 900 West and spread to an attached garage and the main area of the house.

Firefighters were called at 9:52 a.m., but Spanish Fork Fire Capt. Joe Jarvis believes the shed was burning at least 10 minutes before crews arrived.

"Somebody had seen it from the freeway," Jarvis said, "and they called dispatch."

When the first fire crews arrived, they focused on protecting houses on each side of the burning house. People in those houses were evacuated, Jarvis said.

Residents of the burning house were not home when the fire started.

When the nearby houses were safe, firefighters turned attention to the burning house. They battled the blaze from the outside because they did not think the house was safe to enter, Jarvis said.

"The people on the freeway said (flames) were 30 feet high," Jarvis said. "That was probably a pretty fair estimate."

The fire took about three hours to extinguish. About 20 firefighters were on scene with four water-pumper trucks and an aerial ladder truck. The aerial ladder was not needed because the fire received enough water with handheld water lines, Jarvis said.

Jarvis says the holiday is the reason a lot of firefighters were on the scene. Spanish Fork has a volunteer department, and many firefighters didn't have to work at their regular jobs.

"It was kind of lucky," he said.

The house sustained heavy smoke damage. The garage and its contents — a car and a sports-utility vehicle were inside — were destroyed. The shed also was destroyed.

The residents returned home about an hour after the fire started. Nearby family and LDS Church leaders will help them with housing until they can return to their home, Jarvis said.

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com